Diplomatic solution ‘will be complicated’

A diplomatic solution to this crisis is going to be complicated, not least because Britain’s relationships with its traditional partners – the US and the Europeans – are under strain.

Diplomatic pressure – action at the UN or tough economic sanctions – requires the building of a coalition.

Think back to the collective action taken against Moscow in the wake of the murder of a British woman by Russian agents in Salisbury.

The US and Britain’s Nato and European allies all expelled Russian diplomats in an impressive show of solidarity.

But will the same solidarity be shown towards Tehran?

France and Germany have given London rhetorical support. President Trump is standing beside his British ally.

But the US and the EU are fundamentally at loggerheads over the fate of the nuclear deal with Iran and what many European capitals see as a thinly disguised US policy that seeks regime change in Tehran.